The kids are going through a horrible stage at the moment. Well, maybe horrible is too strong a word, but not by much. Precious is entering that most anticipated phase, The Terriable Twos. And she has yet to meet a situation that didn't require REAL tears (for which she is trying to set a world record.) So, ever since, ohhh, about Christmas, Precious has started to become aware of herself as an actual person with rights. And she thinks those rights include every toy that Pumpkin ever touches. At the same time, Pumpkin has become cognizant of the fact I am having a baby (more on that later) and has started to feel threatened in general. So, he's feeling insecure and wanting extra attention and proof that he's special. At the same time, Precious wants to play with whatever he is playing with and lets out shrieks of indignation when Pumpkin doesn't willingly give her whatever it is in his hand. And then, because I can't win of course, I will find something separate to do with Precious - something Pumpkin would never do on his own in a million years like this easy shape puzzle (which Precious really enjoys). But the minute I sit down with Precious (who, if she could actually understand her feelings would probably be feeling triumphant) to do something Pumpkin immediately wants to join in. So then Precious screams because now SHE doesn't want to share. So I spend a lot of time wishing I could lock them in separate rooms and take a long hot bath.

New Baby: I'm doing quite well with only 2 months left to go in this pregnancy. There is still some ongoing confusion about my due date, which is a bit unnerving. On one hand, who cares, Right? I mean, it's all in the hands of god anyway. But I like to somewhat plan my life, and uncertainty drives me bonkers. So the blood test put it at March 18 - which I always thought was odd because the very first time I saw the doctor, he thought from the height of my uterus that I was due in early March. I mean, I originally thought it was going to be late February. But the 18th it was. And I told my boss I was pregnant and planned to go on leave on March 9 - a good 9 days before the due date. But then came the sonogram, and all the measurements there came back like the 9th through the 11th of March. (One came back on the 3rd!) Well. During my two last appointments the nurses have been like, hmmmm, you seem a bit big for your gestational age. Which either means I'm having a big baby (a bad thing since I'm going Natural Birth again) or that my due date is even earlier than the 11. Oh God don't let me have the baby at work! (Add in the complications that mom can't come before March 7 because she has to move and close on her house!)

Midwife Stuff: Well, I TOTALLY love the midwives! Totally! The difference in care between the midwife practice and regular OBGYN is nearly indescribable. I hate to use the term "woman centered" but that is exactly what it is. Children are an accepted and integral part of all the office visits, and totally welcomed throughout the center. They somewhat have run of the place! The office is actually a house down in Old Town Alexandria. So the main area where the receptionist is and where you pick up your charts is actually more like a large rec room. There's no walls between the receptionist and us, the 'waiting area' is actually a bunch of couches and a large area with tons of toys for the kids. There are 4 midwives in the practice, and their individual examination rooms are on the second floor. Again, each examination room is a very laid back place with a big couch to hang out and talk on, and lots of toys for the kids. There aren't any hot lights or tubs with used equipment in them. No where for the kids to get hurt. It's like a small den with an OBGYN table in it. If Pumpkin wants to stay downstairs and play, that's totally fine. It's just understood that the waiting moms-to-be watch the kids of anyone who is indisposed. Now, Pumpkin really likes coming upstairs because he is allowed to help the doctor! How cool is that! Precious usually lays on the table beside me and sucks her thumb. Pumpkin gets to help by blowing up the thing for blood pressure, and he gets to hold the Doppler machine used to hear the baby's heartbeat. They usually count out loud so Pumpkin can pretend to help there too. I think this has really helped Pumpkin understand that I am having a baby and what that really means. I just want to yell from the top of buildings - listen to me, a better way to have babies exists! This is amazing! The other truly cool thing is that when you walk in you ask for your chart, and they give it to you. Consequently you get to read all of the comments made by the midwives about your pregnancy. It's really wonderful to read what is going on - fetal heart rate, how big the fundus is, their comments on your health and wellbeing (ie she remains large for her gestational age.) It makes you really feel like you know what's going on with your pregnancy.

JD's life: Well, as I said, he's a little uptight and sensitive. Still very concerned about being first, doing things himself and being treated with, I guess, what he considers to be a proper amount of respect fitting his nearly four year old status. We still have fits of screaming pretty often and sometimes for things I can not always comprehend. I'm still walking that tight rope between anticipating what will tick him off and not doing it even if it's a bit inconvenient (for example, always putting his shoes on first) versus not coddling him too much and turning him into a terrorist. I don't know what to do. He's extremely sensitive to where Precious is at all times. Now, sometimes this is really adorable - like he wants to make sure she's sleeping ok (he invariably wakes her up). Once, Hubby and I were outside and both of us were talking about car seat covers for the van. In that 2 minutes that we were distracted. . . Pumpkin started yelling Mommy!! Daddy!! Get Precious!! No Precious! Mommy!! - so our heads whip around and there is Precious trying to get off to curb and into the street. So Pumpkin was our hero that day. (Amazing how fast the little shits move! With both of us out there watching them too!) However, other times he simply wants to be alone with me and demands that I leave Precious home, which is impossible if it's only me home at the time. Or else, he doesn't want to go anywhere with Daddy unless Precious is sleeping.

He also seems aware, somewhat, that I'm having a baby. At night he gets to put his hands on my tummy and feel the baby move, or else poke around to feel the feet. He has recently begun telling people that he has a baby in his tummy - which either is a good sign that he's working through feelings of my pregnancy, or a bad sign that he's totally missed the point. He also now has 2 stuffed animals that he carries around and calls his babies. It's very cute - he wants me to breastfeed one of them (yes I need to open my shirt) while he lifts his shirt to feed the other. When I say I can't feed them now he gets upset, "But Mommy, they're hungry now!" So that is totally adorable! (Just caved in and put a load of laundry in!)

Pumpkin holds full conversations now. He can count to 10 no problem and to 15 with a little help. He can sing the ABCs. He also is starting to understand counting backwards. There is this song "Sally the camel has 5 humps,. . . Sally the camel has 4 humps. . . Sally the camel has no humps, cuz Sally is a horse of course." Pumpkin's been singing that on his own - blew me away! So he seems to understand that 5 is more than 4 etc. Oh yeah - we were watching Blues Clues the other day and the main guy (Steve, you may hear Pumpkin talk about Steve) was talking about heavy and light. Well, we've never discusses this at home so I didn't think Pumpkin would have much of a clue. Was I wrong! It was soo cool, I sat there in utter amazement! So Steve asked, which do you think is heavier, the apple or the bag of popcorn? And before I could even mention what was going on Pumpkin says, "The apple is heavier!" And so this continued throughout the show (as long as it was obvious.) He could compare two objects, but comparing 3 objects seemed to confuse him.

We got a Pooh tape to play in the van on the way to Pittsburgh for Christmas. [Aside, buying that van was the smartest thing I have done since marry Hubby. Absolutely fabulous! Having the TV back there is a godsend!] There is a story about a bird in it - and ever since then Pumpkin has had this thing with building birds nests. Unfortunately, this translates into pulling all the pillows off the couch, pull every allowable blanket, get every stuffed animal, and then pile random toys into a huge pulsating pile. And he doesn't want Precious to touch his birdy nest, which is nearly impossible since (a) it's in the middle of the room, (b) it's totally fascinating to a toddler, and (c) it has every toy we own in it. This reminds me of how Tim and I used to play Noah's arc - we would pretend Tim's bedroom was flooded and we needed to 'save' all our toys. . . by piling all of them up on Tim's bed. I can only imagine this took days to clean up.

Pumpkin is currently in swim class and a class called preschool Picassos. He's a little concerned about the art class because it means (gasp) I'm alone with Precious. However, we've cleared this with his conscience by telling him that he is making gifts for mommy. This week he made a pink pig out of some paper plates and pipe cleaners. He's always so proud of himself. When it's warmer I'll be able to do the crafts myself outside (I have these visions of Precious pouring paint all over my hard wood floors) and probably put him in gymnastics or something. The swim class is a huge success. He's always loved water (as does Precious) but I was never able to get floaties on him or anything. And once Precious was born it became very hard for me to get him to actually swim (jumping into the water and splashing everyone? No problem) So this is his second session of swim classes and you should see him go! The other week his picassos class was canceled because the teacher had the flu so we went swimming. Pumpkin grabbed one of those noodles and started swimming all by himself! It was really really neat to see! And he seems to really like the teacher, Ms. Elly. She was there when we were swimming and she came over and poured a bowl of water on his head, which delighted him. (If I do that it's Armageddon!) Other activities that would be neat are soccer, dance, and panio. However, if we're not careful we will soon end up with more activities than days.

Pumpkin is still into turtles, matchbox cars, legos, play-doh, and cat-in-the-hat. (Watching the school bus go by at 8:10 is still a treasured ritual.) We read two or three books every night before bed. Usually they are The Cat in the Hat, Turtle loses his shell, and Thomas the Train. He loves the part in the Cat in the Hat where the Fish yells at the cat to go home because the mommy isn't there (we had a few conversations about letting people in the house without telling mommy, and see what bad things happen when you do!) So he'll be marching around feeling important and then yell, "No! No! Make the Cat go Away! Mommy isn't here!" And Hubby looks at me like I'm crazy.

Katie's life: Man, I'm just kicking myself that I haven't written about Precious since her birthday - and here she is 19 months already. She is simply a great little kid! I assume my love affair with her will slowly be ending as more tantrums start, but at the moment she's still adorable. She has changed so much since her birthday! Her hair has grown quite long (the women at daycare do something to it all the time, they totally dote on her! I pick her up and she's got braids in her hair or pigtails!) and she attempts to talk. In fitting with her new 'I am a person' attitude, she has the most hilarious way of saying 'no' It's always a high pitched, plaintive wail - as if she's offended you even asked her. Now, this is appropriate when you try to take away a toy, but it's amusing when you offer her a drink and you get this offended 'no' response. I'll have to get it on tape. So, Precious now is starting to talk. (oops, more laundry!) Unfortunately, the only useful word she's learned to say so far is "thirsty". 'No' is not a useful addition to her repertoire because she was already pretty clear when she didn't want something. So she says things like Pumpkin, jacket, tellytubbies, kittycat, tiger, blues clues (she has a blues clues hat, so she hears those words a lot) Oh yes, she also says 'mine'. And she always says it in the same irritated voice that she says no. However, you can tell she is just on the cusp of really talking. We have a Barney book and I'll point out things in the book and she'll repeat (to the best of her limited ability) every word you say. She loves the Barney book (which is amusing since we never watch Barney), and this fisher price farm book.

She (of course) totally loves Pumpkin's babies - both of them favor the damn tiger over the bear - and eagerly watches the tiger, waiting for Pumpkin to put it down so she can snatch and carry it around herself. And then I have to play official and decide was Pumpkin actually done with the tiger, for example he just poured out all the matchbox cars and therefore Precious has a legitimate right to play with it; or was Pumpkin doing something but was coming back for the tiger, like going potty or making a 'birdy' nest for the babies to sleep in. And Precious always thinks she has a legitimate right to everything.

Darling Precious Angel Baby is still the biggest comforter that I have ever seen. She absolutely LOVES stuffed animals, and carries them around hugging them tightly to her chest. Her new obsession is Winne The Pooh. Now, this totally took me by surprise. Granted, the 'nursery' (if you can call a room that is 14 by 17 a nursery) is done in Pooh - and she's been able to say Pooh for awhile. And we also have a huge Tigger and Eyore (both bigger than her) Anyway, Kathleen's baby Nick had his one year party and we all went and someone gave Nick a huge Pooh as a present. At the time Precious didn't seem that interested (it was too big to cuddle, and therefore not a priority.) However, it reminded me that we have a Winne the Pooh tape. Ever since I showed her the tape she has been a Winnie the Pooh fanatic! We got a little one for Christmas which she adores (whenever she can't get her greedy claws on Pumpkin's tiger) She even sings the Winnie the Pooh song and plops in front of the TV singing it expectantly - how can you refuse?

Hubby and Pumpkin are home and Pumpkin is in a foul mood because he went to bed at 9 last night and got up at like 6:30. SO now it is time for his nap, which he is totally fighting. See, last night Precious. . .well, actually I was alseep so I don't exactly know what happened but Hubby brought her to me because she was crying. So she ended up sleeping with me and Hubby slept downstairs in what will soon be Pumpkin's room. Anyway, I think Pumpkin rolled over at 6:30 and his sleepy little brain went into high alert because (Alarm!) Precious was missing, meaning Precious must be in bed ALONE with mommy and daddy. So he promptly rushed into my bedroom and woke all of us up. (At least Precious will take a monster nap!)

The two highlights of Precious's day are going outside for any reason and trying to play in the kitty litter. I have never seen a child want to go outside the Precious. I mean, Pumpkin loved to go outside, but Precious will stand at the sliding glass doors, cuddling her jacket, and cry. So when Hubby is heading out of the house with Pumpkin, we have to be careful that Precious doesn't see us putting on Pumpkin's shoes. If she does then she goes running to find her shoes and jacket and plops down in front of me waiting for her shoes to be put on too. She always says jacket with this delighted tone of voice.

Ok, just convinced Pumpkin to take a nap. It is now 2pm. He's even sleeping in his 'new' bedroom. Back to Precious. Another thing Precious just loves -damn. Laundry buzzer. Ok, Precious just loves Mr. Potato Head! Supposedly it's for ages 2 +, but she really seems to enjoy it. I'm going to get a Mrs. Potato Head because their relatively cheap and it will avoid arguments. Her concentration skills really amaze me. She is also handy with the legos, and can build high towers.

Precious has just started a class called Toddler Movement (18 mos to 2 years) which is at the same time as Pumpkin's art class. Unfortunately her Sat. swim class got cancelled - Sad! Anyway, last time Pumpkin had art I rushed over with Precious to the pool for some alone time. Oh it was great! She 'swims' with the noddle, meaning if I drape her arms over it and hold both sides to hold her up she kicks like a mermaid and laughs like crazy. She even brought me the noodle herself showing that she wanted to 'swim'. Also, there was a boy maybe 6 months older also swimming and jumping in. Of course, Precious decided she wanted to jump in too, and that was precious. I love my alone time with her, which is basically never. Anyway, she is now in this toddler movement class with me. At first she was shy about the other people so she and I sat on the floor (Precious clutching a winnie the pooh slipper she brought with her and sucking her thumb like her life depended on it) Eventually the teacher brought out a big bag of beach balls for the children to kick - boy did that get Precious involved! So from that point on she was fully involved in the class. She especailly loved it when the teacher dumped all the balls so they bounced all over the room and the kids got to pick them up and put them back in the bag. For some reason Precious just LOVED this. She also liked ring around the rosey. Any time I get on the floor and she gets to jump on me is a big hit.

What has happened since last we talked: We bought a rubbermaid shed for the end of the driveway to stuff all the kids toys into. This has been a goal of mine just forever so I'm delighted to have it. Of course, we have so much outdoor stuff for the kids that the only way to get it in is to stack some of it. The other positive thing is that seeing how well the little shed worked has put a bee in his bonnet about getting a bigger shed - like an 8 by 6 - to put under the deck. We found one that will fit with minimal digging (for height) that is only like 500 dollars, which also satisfies Hubby's cheap quotient. I just want it to be something he can easily put up in a weekend. Preferably without my help.

We have transformed the downstairs guest room into Pumpkin's new bedroom in anticipation of the new arrival! This has been an enormous undertaking! It was hard at first because I just loved that room. It was somewhat of a muted southwestern theme and all of the antiques were in that room. It was like the one room in the house not done in preschool fisher price. We even bought matching outlet covers! So, dismantling that room was hard for several reasons. First, I liked the room and all it's matching painting and such. Next, we used the closet as an unofficial filing cabinet so we had boxes of high school and college notes and textbooks to go through. Finally what do to with all the antiques? Some we moved upstairs (meaning we had to get rid of some furniture upstairs) and some we stuffed in the closet. We also moved Hubby's old childhood chest of drawers, which was stuffed in the nursery closet, to the downstairs. I'd like to strip it and paint it because it's just an old faded wood color, but I don't know when I would have the time. Also Hubby was somewhat disturbed by this because he likes the bland wood color - and I quote, "But I'm kind of attached to that drawers since it's from my childhood." That was pretty cute. So, we no longer have an official guest bedroom - although I assume people will still sleep there and Pumpkin will sleep on the floor or with us.

The room is now done in a circus theme and is totally fabulous. Nanna T. bought us the covers for the bed and also a matching border for the room. Oh it is too cool!! And Hubby didn't kill me putting it up even though I am notoriously poor at things requiring patience. So we have the border up around the room and the sheets on. Nanna T. also got us special curtain rods and tie backs - the end of the rods are colorful beach balls that nearly match the ball the seal on the bedcovers etc. is balancing on his nose. For Christmas JoAnn got me stuffed animal heads to hang on the wall - I wish you could see these things! Precious goes ballistic every time we walk in the room demanding that we take them down so she can roll around on the floor hugging them. They are bigger than she is. We have a zebra, a giraffe and an elephant. The only thing we are waiting on is the curtains. The room really is so neat. I want to buy a stuffed chair in a great color like deep blue or purple or green - something really colorful - so that Pumpkin has a special reading chair. Right now he gets stories read to him up in my bed and then moves into the toddler bed to sleep. This is not going to work once the new baby is here as the new baby will be in our bedroom until? Gosh, that baby could be there awhile as I don't have any idea when Precious will want to move out of the crib. Pumpkin moved out of the crib at around 26 months - but he was ready to in that he had figured out how to climb out and such. Precious will be 21 months (at most) when the new baby comes, so that's 5 more months in the crib, and she doesn't yet seem to be in any hurry to move out.

I haven't yet started moving Pumpkin's clothes down there, but I would like to do that soon. There isn't any big rush - but I would like to have the baby's clothes in some semblance of order by March 1. We've got to dig them out! Dear lord we have boxes upon boxes of clothes! We have basically have two boxes per 3 months until 12 months, then 2 boxes per season, plus extras from Pumpkin since he grew so fast. Another problem that I am not yet sure how I will handle is getting Pumpkin up. Right now, if he gets up and decides he needs me I'm all of 6 feet away. Or, on work mornings - because they never ever want to get up on the days I have to get up too, only on days when I could possibly sleep in - I will turn on lights in the hallway and go wake Pumpkin up, but let him lie in bed and complain a while before attempting to change his clothes. How will this work when he is downstairs? Do I have to sit downstairs for a long time? What is happening to Precious during this time? Also, right now I can decide who seems more malleable in the morning and change their clothes first since all of the clothes are on the same floor. (Of course, I must always keep in mind that if Pumpkin doesn't have his shoes on first I will have to physically carry his screaming body to the car.) Actually, Hubby is usually around to help me, and I KNOW I will need that help when we have 3. The original plan was that Hubby leave the house by 7 to be at work by 7:30. But this never happens, and I tell him if the kids get up and you are around, then you have to help me get them ready. If nothing else put Pumpkin's shoes on and let him stand in the window and wave good bye. This has still not motivated Hubby to leave earlier, so I accept the help with great rejoicing. I get up at the same time as Hubby but usually don't leave the house until 7:20 (at the earliest.) Even if Hubby fully dresses Pumpkin, it still takes me an extra 15 minutes (I swear!) to get coats on and everyone buckled into the car.

Well, it's nearly 3 and I'm still in my pajamas. And have laundry to fold.